ALBANY, N.Y. (March 18, 2005) - A unique retreat
designed to build unity among members of the
Capital Region Jewish community will be offered
at the University at Albany March 22-24.

The program - which UAlbany Disabled Student
Services Director Nancy Belowich-Negron describes
as “the first all-Jewish ‘Train
the Trainers’ workshop ever delivered
in the world” - will be held at Chapel
House on the uptown campus. Designed to unify
Jewish UAlbany faculty and students with one
another and with other Jews throughout the
wider community, the session will also focus
on dealing with anti-Semitism. International
trainers Cherie Brown and Felice Markowicz
will teach the program, which is expected to
attract 60 to 70 participants. The event is
one of two sessions this year supported by
a $50,000 grant from the United Jewish Federation
of New York’s Commission on Jewish Identity & Renewal
Terrorism Response Fund.

As a National Coalition Building Institute
(NCBI) affiliate, the University teaches a
special set of skills useful in helping people
of divergent opinions or backgrounds to work
out their differences. UAlbany has participated
in the institute since the early 1990s, when
black and Jewish students who took part in
an NCBI workshop were finally able to overlook
their perceptions and reach out to one another
in friendship and understanding, according
to Belowich-Negron, who oversees UAlbany’s
NCBI training program. “Without touching
hearts,” she explains, “you can’t
really change attitudes.”

In the past 11 years, UAlbany has trained
more than 300 leaders. Annually, the University
offers several three-day skills-building workshops
that train 40 to 60 students, faculty, and
staff.

NCBI, a non-profit leadership training organization
based in Washington, D.C., offers programs
that prepare faculty, staff, and students to
overcome racial prejudice. However, the skills
acquired at NCBI workshops have been applied
to a wide variety of circumstances where conflict,
controversy, or differing belief systems are
at issue, including Nelson Mandela’s
rise to power in South Africa and attempts
to further peace negotiations in the Middle
East.

For more information about the March program
or the program in August, please contact Belowich-Negron
at (518) 442-5490

The University at Albany's broad mission of excellence in undergraduate and graduate
education, research and public service engages more than 16,000 diverse
students in nine degree-granting schools and colleges. For more information
about this internationally ranked institution, visit www.albany.edu.
For UAlbany's extensive roster of faculty experts, visit www.albany.edu/news/experts.htm.